IT Employees Union demands better working conditions & social security

Tvm: In an effort to consolidate its base in Kerala, the CITU backed Association of IT Employees (AITE) has asked the Government to ensure social security for IT employees while demanding better working conditions for those employed in the IT industry in Kerala. AITE is the first independent trade union of IT employees and claims to have a membership of about 10,000 in Kerala. AITE is organising a Secretariat march on November 11, 2011 to protest against the exploitation in the IT industry and to press for its demands.

Addressing a press conference on Saturday, A D Jayan, State General Secretary, AITE said that most IT firms in Kerala, especially BPOs, Call Centres and those engaged in Data Entry / Processing jobs are paying meagre salary to their staff even while their office hours extend up to 12 hours in a day. He alleged that several companies, including those in Technopark, Trivandrum and Infopark, Kochi are denying benefits such as PF, ESI and other statutory benefits to their employees. He also added that even government organisations like C-Dit, Kerala State IT Mission, Information Kerala Mission, Akshaya and [email protected] were exploiting their IT employees similar to the IT companies in the private sector.

K S Sunil Kumar, Trivandrum District President demanded the setting up of a welfare board for the IT sector and asked the government to declare the minimum wages for IT employees. He mentioned that in spite of high educational qualifications, IT employees are being denied their legitimate benefits and social justice.

The Association office bearers also demanded a vigilance inquiry against the Director of Akshaya over his alleged role in the allotment of 700 new Akshaya centres, orders regarding purchase of equipments and contracts to private agencies. Jayan also said that Akshaya entrepreneurs had invested over Rs.100 crore to purchase of new equipment for Aadhaar (UID) enrolment and now they stand to loose this investment as new contracts are being given to private agencies. Association members later held a dharna in front of the Akshaya State Office in Thiruvananthapuram.